


Starlight

by Deevitas



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-22
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:28:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,925
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21526003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deevitas/pseuds/Deevitas
Summary: insert extremely emotional copy pasted song lyrics here to make it seem deep and meaningful so you'll check this fic out
Relationships: Raihan/Leon
Comments: 2
Kudos: 62





	Starlight

**Author's Note:**

> these bitches gay! good for them! also hi! you may or may not know me from my kukui/guzma fic "baywatch except it gets gay", i didn't get to finish it because Life (tm), but please enjoy and be merciful on me for english is not my first language
> 
> the pacing will be around the same as my previous work, but worry not, we shall Get There

It came as a complete shock, those ten seconds when the world stood still. The cue of Leon’s Charizard hitting the ground with a loud thud after reversing from it’s gigantamax form gave place to a moment when time stopped, the eyes of the entire Galar region only one surprised gasp away from relaying to their minds that the undefeatable Leon had been toppled, against all odds, by the Gym Challenger he himself has endorsed, after fighting their way through the grueling gauntlet of other challengers and Gym leaders.

In those ten seconds, the stadium audience geared up for what was arguably the loudest set of cheers to have ever taken place there, the echoing screams audible from the dressing room, completely overpowering the televised rendition of events that was playing on the screen.

It was impossible not to stare in shock, as what’s usually the yearly ritual of Raihan losing to Leon was completely replaced by an all stakes match between Leon and the Challenger, arguably the most heated one that the entire region had seen in a long time.

As the stadium roared, and Leon proudly presented the Galar region’s new champion to the world with a beaming smile, a handful of people’s priorities shifted in a confused, rushed manner, as everyone processed that Leon, whose entire brand revolved around his eternal winning streak, was defeated while the world stared in awe. Among these people were the Gym leaders, whose ultimate goal for years had been to brave the gauntlet tournament and defeat Leon and claim the title of champion for themselves, and among these gym leaders was Raihan, not only shocked at the outcome, but also frustrated he didn’t get to take part in the championship match.

That frustration, however, was short lived, as the information processed in his head and his lips arched to a grin, his snaggletooth peeking out, his mind racing at the exhilarating fact that his two goals in life had gone from being entwined, to be champion, and to beat Leon, to becoming two, distinct things.

It’s unquestionable that if anyone had asked him 10 minutes earlier what his life aspirations were, he’d cheerfully say something along the lines of: “To become Champion by beating Leon!”

But now, in the immediate moments after Leon’s defeat, the question would quickly become unanswerable, and it would take Raihan some time to figure out what changed in him throughout all the years he spent beating all the other gym leaders in the tournament, only to be trounced in the final by Leon, time and time again.

Despite being lost in the slurry of thoughts that came after the events that had just transpired, it was on a thoughtless impulse that he stood up and ran out of the room as he saw a familiar silhouette walk outside the dressing area, a grin plastered on his face as always, only missing the mantle that would usually hang heavy upon his shoulders. Raihan quickly gave chase, but it was only after a couple minutes of brisk walking in an unfruitful attempt to catch up that he finally called out, his usual cocky composure broken, even if only for a fraction of a second.

“Leon!” he yelled out between heavy breaths, the message barely heard among the cries of the audience back in the stadium, echoing through the side exit of the stadium he’d just walked out of, and the announcer celebrating the birth of a new champion.

Barely heard, but picked up on by the person it was meant to reach. With his hand on his shoulder while doing warm up rotations with his arm, Leon turned around, the full extent of his trademark infectious grin covering his face from end to end, his body clearly amped up and full of energy, fully discernible by the glint in his eyes.

This sight took Raihan aback for a split second. It was the first time Leon had lost, so there was no way to tell how he would react, but “abnormally cheery” was not the first guess in his mental list. It didn’t take him long to compose himself, and with the now ex-champion’s attention, he voiced the first thing that came to mind, not really having had a proper reason to chase after him other than the fact that he somehow managed to elude the paparazzi and the media to sneak out from the side of the stadium and was heading out on his own, after his defeat in one of the most heated battles that everyone had seen.

“You sure you don’t need to be there for the ceremonies? I mean, like, passing the title and all that, y’know?” Was what he managed to put together in the amount of time afforded him to think up something, his cool demeanor betraying the rush welling up inside him.

To his surprise, all that got out of Leon was a chuckle.

“Ahah, it’s nice of you to worry, but this is the kid’s moment, ya know? Besides...”

As his sentence drifted off, he turned around and lowered his head toward the ground, leading Raihan to lift his brow for a split second, before Leon momentuously turned his body back and raised his finger to the skies, a “POW” sound effect almost materializing from the conviction of his movement.

“We don’t have time to waste! History has been made in pokémon battling history, and I’m not falling behind!” he belted out, his loud voice attracting the attention of the fifty something different reporters looking for him, the stampede of their footsteps immediately becoming apparent, all of them dedicated to getting the big scoop, the interview with the defeated “undefeatable” champion. It was as the horde of paparazzi homed in on their location that Leon, completely unshaken, finished his thoughts. “And you, Raihan, are coming with me! I can’t think of anyone better to help me out!”

Before any form of witty retort could make it’s way from Raihan’s brain to his lips, Leon took him by the hand and took off in a sprint in whatever direction Leon’s eyes first focused on, Raihan barely being able to keep up because Leon’s intense grasp plus their height difference made it incredibly difficult to keep up without tripping all over himself. 

After ten minutes of trying not to fall face first while his rival yeeted him around, Leon finally stopped and Raihan, at least with a chance to catch his breath, had the time to survey his surroundings, a clearance in the middle of the tree park that surrounded the stadium.

“Well!” Leon exclaimed with his usual pep.

“That absolutely did not go the way I planned it to.” He finished with a smile still spread across his face.

Realizing only then, a bit too late, that Leon is hopelessly ditzy with directions, Raihan’s features warped into a pained expression, faulting himself more than anything for letting himself be led around by the person with objectively the worst sense of location and object permanence within an extremely large radius. It was as Leon looked around, with a lot of pep left in his step, surrounded only by the trees of the outskirts of Wyndon, that Raihan decided to speak up, before the situation inevitably repeated itself.

“Hey, Leon?” He sputtered between long, drawn out breaths for air. Leon turned his face to the worn out Raihan, the fire in his eyes heavily suggesting that he was seconds away from sprinting in whatever direction his broken GPS of a brain commanded him to, before Raihan continued his thoughts.

“Listen, just tell me where we’re going, I ain’t the one in hot water here, but I’d rather be hounded by the press than fall down a cliff, ya know?” He continued before stretching his sore legs, tired after negotiating one another for ten minutes while being led around by the human equivalent of Thomas the tank engine.

“I won’t tell anyone, but maybe it’d be faster if I led the way, yeah?” He finished.

This got Leon to put his hand to his chin, his feet still tip tapping in a jogging motion, and after a few seconds of extremely intense pondering, as indicated by his furrowed brows and his pensive expression, before his features lightened up and he smiled at his rival before letting out a slight chuckle.

“Heh, you’re probably right. Not a lot of people know, but I’m actually hopeless with finding my way around!” He once again exclaimed, the passion behind his voice burning brighter than ever.

Raihan couldn’t even break it to Leon that his total inability to go literally anywhere was an extremely commonly known factoid, but it didn’t take a lot of thinking to realize that that’s probably something Leon doesn’t pay much mind to. He didn’t get to be known as the undefeated Champion by stopping to consider what other people thought of him, or by doing anything other than charging straight ahead in any given situation with a raw, uncontainable energy.

It was exactly this, though, that made him the perfect counterpart to Raihan’s lax, cool headed disposition, and the reason why the sparks that flew whenever they battled shined brighter than any other, the one thing that firmly sealed their relationship as rivals.

It was, also, the one thing on Raihan’s mind as the championship bout unfurled in front of his eyes after his own defeat at the hands of the Challenger, as it happened. He didn’t have his eye set so much on the outcome of the battle, but the feel of the championship battle, the intense atmosphere of it… to him, it hadn’t come close to the thrill of his own battles with Leon, the sheer weight of his own cool headed strategy versus Leon’s almost unmanageable might, in his eyes, eclipsing the importance of the first championship match in a long time that didn’t involve both him and Leon.

It was as Raihan found himself lost in thought over the recent events that Leon quickly snapped him to attention. “We’re off to Rose tower, then! Full speed ahead!”

It was only by virtue of Raihan’s quick reflexes that he managed to catch Leon by the wrist before he ran off, and turned him one hundred and eighty degrees from the direction he was planning on bolting off to before pointing at Rose Tower, looming in the sky line a fair bit ahead.

“I don’t know what’s got you so pumped, but…” He drifted off as he sighed, albeit with a smile on his face. “Nothing to lose at this point, right? Might as well tag along, besides, someone’s gotta keep you from getting lost before your Charizard is in any condition to lead you around.” Raihan declared out loud, though not so much toward Leon as it was directed at himself, and before he knew it, he found himself matching Leon’s pace as they both headed in the right direction this time. 

Whatever the former champion had in mind, he had no time to waste in getting to it, especially not with the media and other third parties, and knowing Leon, it could only be something of ridiculous proportions.

Unbeknownst to him, however, something even more fiery would begin to simmer beneath the surface, feelings locked deeply away that would slowly rear their head as the two of them would become constants in each other’s days, in an effort to tackle Leon’s grandiose scheme, to establish a Battle Tower in the now vacant Rose Tower.

**Author's Note:**

> to be continued (very soon)


End file.
